It's not just the polititians who are working hard to divide this country by race. It's also college professors who continue to live in the 1950's and 60's...who constantly rip up old healed wounds and make them fresh and gaping for today. Racism effects all of us. I don't believe it's nearly the issue that it once was. I do think many people have nothing else to talk about, no other way to gain support and they use this issue to their own selfish advantage. Ward Churchill is one classic example:

More than 100 students, faculty and community members - about 20 of them protesters - attended controversial academic and activist Ward Churchill’s lecture in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. last night, both to listen and, for some, to attempt debate.---SNIP---Churchill went on to analyze the unique situation Native Americans are confronted with in their search for civil rights, as compared to that of African Americans involved in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

African Americans, being citizens, were able to fight for their rights through their government - although they endured legal hurdles, public ridicule and the constant fear of violence while doing so, he said. However, because the U.S. government has recognized - according to international law - Native Americans as a sovereign nation with roughly 400 treaties, Churchill said Native Americans do not have “civil rights,” but instead are entitled to the rights of an individual state.

All oppressed groups, including African Americans, Native Americans, queers, women and other ethnic minorities must continue, like their predecessors, to seek avenues in which to reestablish their inalienable rights, Churchill said.

This is just a bunch of bulloney. Churchill is a lot like the New Orleans Mayor, who capitilized on the tragic situations of his own city, used the race of many as a conspiracy-theoried as a platform for attention. These educators and leaders keep the race card alive and well. They have nothing else to think about, so they create drama and stir the pots of hatred. This divides otherwise perfectly excepting peoples. It's a shame that everyone allows this to continue. MLK could see his dream if only those who pretend to honor him would allow people to work things out among themselves. The hell with the leaders.